Hydrosol launches trendy concepts for fruit-based beverages

08 Feb 2018 --- The market for beverages is continuously growing around the world. The main drivers in the category are fruit juices and fruit juice drinks, which are seeing disproportionate growth. Hydrosol has launched all-in compounds which let beverage manufacturers benefit from this growing demand. The company's Stabifruit systems contain all the important components for making refreshing fruity drinks and offer many advantages over concentrates.

Fruit juices and refreshing fruity drinks have a very positive image with consumers. According to research by Innova Market Insights, flavor and health benefits are the most important sales arguments from consumers’ point of view. Fruit juice manufacturers must meet increasing consumer demands while at the same time addressing various production challenges, from growing cost pressure to requirements placed on storage of concentrations, to guaranteeing the optimum product quality. There are also regulations concerning enrichment with vitamins and minerals, as well as the increasingly frequent calls to reduce sugar content, which negatively impacts the mouthfeel and viscosity of drinks. As the looming sugar tax saga continues, many drinks makers looking to reduce and remove sugar and reformulate beverages that still quench the thirst of consumers.

Take China, for example, it is a highly important global market for soft drink and a vibrant one. Due to a rising disposable income and growing purchasing powder, more and more consumers include a soft drink or two in their daily purchases. Bottled water is doing well due to exposure to brands and their large-scale marketing campaigns, however other established products such as carbonated drinks, RTD tea, juice drinks and energy drinks continue to do well. Innova’s market data indicates that soft drinks in China were valued at €54.9 billion in 2016 and expected to rise to €88.9 billion by 2022; posting a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 8.34 percent over 2010-2022 (total soft drinks includes: bottled water (flavored & unflavored), carbonates, drink concentrates & mixes, energy and soft drinks, iced coffee, iced tea and juice and juice drinks). In 2018, this is expected to equate to a per capita consumption of 81.07 liters, doubling from 42.17 in 2010.

This rise in consumption can be attributed to economic growth, interesting product development and improved quality.

With its Stabifruit line of all-in compounds, Hydrosol offers an attractive solution. Since these functional systems are in powder form, they have high storage stability along with optimum logistics. Unlike with fruit juice concentrates, there are no expiration date issues. Water-free formulations are microbiologically safer than juices or concentrates. In addition, with no water, there is less weight to transport. These are measurable cost benefits for users. In addition, these powdered products can be used by manufacturers who were previously not part of the fruit juice industry, and so do not have the specific machinery park.

Naturally, the compounds are free of preservatives. They are easy to use, and with just small dosages give refreshing fruity drinks with an appealing mouthfeel, color, flavor and viscosity. Individual components can be used flexibly depending on customer wishes. The fruit content is variable. Sugar content can also be reduced without impacting the quality of the beverage. Cloudiness stability is also important, i.e. keeping particles suspended in cloudy drinks. The unusual cloudiness stability of Hydrosol’s formulations has been demonstrated in scientific testing. Hydrosol’s close collaboration with its sister company SternVitamin is an advantage for customers since it makes it possible to enrich the all-in compounds individually with vitamins and minerals. This gives manufacturers a custom beverage concept from a single source.

A wide portfolio of fruit flavors is available, including favorites like orange, peach and mango as well as special flavors like raspberry, banana and currant. That means that the new Stabifruit line of all-in compounds provides the basis for a wide range of fruit drinks whose mouthfeel, color, taste and viscosity leave nothing to be desired while offering substantial economic, logistical and production benefits.

Dr. Dorotea Pein, Product Manager for dairy and fine food products at Hydrosol told FoodIngredientsFirst: “We are always thinking of new ideas for our customers to develop new markets.”

“Our compounds are very much suitable for sugar-reduced products since we have texturizing ingredients that adjust the mouthfeel of sugar reduced beverages. OFten the mouthfeel of these products is very low and we can enhance the impression for the consumer by using our texturizing ingredients,” explains Pein.

“We started this range with a range of concepts: from 0 to 6 percent of fruit in the ready to drink product is everything possible. The lower the fruit content the more texturizing knowledge is necessary to meet the expectations of the customer on the product. We deliver individually developed solutions for our customers to meet the expectations of their customers. With our sister company OlbrichtArom, we have a partner who can create us a broad range of flavors to individually create solutions for the taste of different regions.”

“With Stabifruit we want to target customers who want to go into a new market. We think of dairies, who have the process for the production and maybe not enough milk – producing beverages in the time between the milk productions could help to use the whole capacity of the production. With the Stabifruit range, they can easily start to produce products for an additional market segment. The powder compounds are easy to store and easy to use – we deliver the concept and the customer can bring it to the market without a huge development step,” she adds.

By Elizabeth Green